Son of Hircine
by TheDeadGirlRisen
Summary: Harry Potter will do anything to stay away from his relatives, including running away and living in the chamber of secrets. It is there he discovers a mysterious wall with glowing words. When he accidentally activates a rune sequence and a strange voice grants him the knowledge of the words, he uses the opportunity to get away to a place where none will be able to find him. Skyrim.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Harry refused to return to his relatives, last year he had tried to ask the headmaster to allow him to stay at Hogwarts over the summer, but was refused. After that he had thought about running away, yet he always felt like he was being watched, even though he couldn't see anybody.

Ever since he was young he had learned to trust his instincts, they had helped him keep out of trouble and avoid being caught whenever he took the risk of taking some food out of his relatives fridge and pantry.

Last year he was unable to make any plans, he couldn't gather supplies. On that last day he had tried to find an opportunity to sneak away, to at least get away, but there was not a single moment in which he was alone. Ron and Hermione stuck close by him in order to spend as much time with him as possible before summer vacation separated them.

Then the summer happened and his relatives learned after a bit that he couldn't do magic over the summer, the only thing that had been keeping them somewhat off his back. The last Harry saw of his Uncle the man looked murderous. Harry was to scared to return to his relatives, and he was tired of being their prey.

This year he was going to escape, no matter what it took. After the ordeal of the chamber of secrets Harry learned that the Headmaster could understand parseltongue, but not speak it. Which meant he couldn't get into the chamber. That could be where he lived, plus there was something in the chamber that kept tugging at him to come back. Still if he was going to live in the chamber he needed food and water.

Help came to him in the form of Dobby the house elf. The little elf had came to him that night after blasting Lucius across the room. He had professed his gratitude and offered his apologies once more for trying to get Harry to stay away from Hogwarts.

Curious Harry asked why Dobby was bound to Lucius and learned that house elves had to be bound to a wizard or else they would die after a decade or so. Harry was horrified to learn that Dobby was going to die and impulsively asked if Dobby would want him as a master.

Dobby was ecstatic and started crying happily. So the elf bound himself to Harry. With that Harry learned that Dobby would obey all his commands, though if the elf disliked them, Harry was sure that Dobby could figure a way around them. Discussing his plans with Dobby the elf suggested that he could bring Harry food and water. This way no one had the chance to discover him sneaking around to get food.

With the plan in motion Harry just needed to a moment to slip away. He wanted everyone to think he had gone onto the train and so couldn't disappear the day before.

The morning of the last day dawned and people were rushing about to pack everything. Then they were leaving towards the train, "Ron, Harry! Do you have everything?"

"Yeah," Ron answered and rolled his eyes.

"I think so, I can't help but feel as if I'm missing something though."

"You got your clothes? Wand? Textbooks? Summer homework?"

Harry made a horrified face as if he realized what he forgot, "I think I left Snape's assignment in my room."

"You better grab it real quick."

He gave a nod, "I'll find you guys on the train."

With that he turned and made his way back, but as soon as he was out of eyesight from the other students he put his invisibility cloak on and made his way to the second floor bathroom. With a hiss of _$Open$_ the hidden passage opened up. Glad that Myrtle wasn't around he slid down the slide. He grimaced at all of the slime that was here.

The tugging sensation that he had been feeling was stronger here, first though he would have to set up an area to sleep. "Dobby!" He called out and a pop later the little elf was there, "Could you help me clear this up?"

"Of course Master Harry!"

With a few snaps of Dobby's fingers and a few spells from Harry's wand, the chamber was a bit cleaner, though the corpse of the giant basilisk was still there. He shuddered as he remembered killing it with the sword, the basilisk had been a mighty predator, but Harry had proved to be the stronger one. "Dobby can send the corpse to the goblins to be made chopped into parts for selling if Master Harry wishes it."

"Sure," It was better than leaving it rot after all. Dobby went to the basilisk and put his hand on the corpse, and with a large pop they were both gone. With the basilisk gone Harry decided to explore, after all there might already be a bedroom or somewhere to sleep.

The first place to look would be where the basilisk came out of, surely there had to be something it was guarding in there. Harry started towards the open doorway which hadn't closed automatically and entered. The corridor quickly darkened and he cast lumos. Further and further he walked until the tunnel started to become more open.

A strange rattling noise came from further up and Harry paused a moment later a skeleton came into view and it was charging at him with a sword. With a yelp of surprise he quickly stopped casting lumos and instead cast Incendio. The skeleton collapsed into a pile of bones.

Shuddering he recast lumos and continued on, though he was being more careful now, as it seemed the basilisk wasn't the only thing protecting whatever was hidden in the chamber of secrets. With the tugging getting stronger, Harry was starting to suspect that whatever was being hidden is the thing that is calling for him. Another ten minutes of walking and a couple more skeletons he made it into a large open chamber.

The room was lined with some kind of box, a couple of them open or cracked revealing corpses with grey hollow looking flesh, though they still seemed somewhat preserved. Towards the furthest end of the room was another box only it was on the ground flat. Behind the tomb was a wall with carvings on it, one of the carvings was faintly glowing and blue tendrils of light were coming out of it towards him.

Hesitantly he made his way closer to the wall. Stopping in front of the tomb as he saw a small journal on it. Grabbing it he saw that it was written by Salazar Slytherin.

'_I have stumbled across this ancient crypt while we were building the school. This tomb seems to be home to some kind of ancient warrior, the books I have found have taken a while to translate even in english, but it became clear that this ancient warrior, or perhaps hero was actually from another world, or maybe our world, but in a time long before human history. If it is truly from another world, then how did it get here? If it is from our world, then how has an entire civilization been lost? No where in the mundane world has a similar crypt or writings been discovered, yet neither has any other magical settlements made a note about this._

_Another oddity is the wall of words behind the tomb, the language in the books is in fact entirely different from it which isn't english at all. The books at least seemed to be an ancient form of english, though perhaps that was simply the natural magicks at work allowing me to view it as an ancient english. Rowena and Helga say that the wall gives them a bad feeling, bat at least Godric seems to be as curious about it as I am. Strange that Rowena who loves to know everything wishes nothing to do with the wall, while Godric who usually is fine leaving things to themselves is the only other person interested in it.'_

Pages looked like they were ripped out and torn and there was only a couple other legible entries, mostly with Salazar ranting about his frustration of not finding anything, the last was that he had figured out that someone called a 'Dovahkiin' was the only one who would be able to make use of the wall.

Salazar's last line was ominous in stating he wanted to figure out how to trick the wall into believing Salazar was this 'Dovahkiin' person. Looking at the wall he frowned as he noticed that one of the strange symbols that was possibly a word was glowing faintly, as if beckoning him.

Did that mean that Salazar had been successful in getting the wall to work? If so then what did it do? Hesitantly he stepped closer trying to get a better look, as he moved towards the wall the glowing got stronger and he noticed now that a three sections of the symbols were glowing, rather than the one he had assumed. Now though there was a faint noise underneath, that as he took an unconscious step closer got louder, sounding like singing.

"Our Hero, our hero claims a warrior's heart. I tell you, I tell you, the dragonborn comes. With a voice wielding power of the ancient nord art. Believe, Believe, the dragonborn comes. It's an end to the evil, of all skyrim's foes. Beware, Beware the dragonborn comes. For the darkness has passed, and the legend yet grows. You'll know, you'll know, the dragonborn's come."

Harry tried to stop moving, but the tugging was overwhelming now and he found himself continuing forward towards the glowing blue words. As he stood in front of the words they seemed to almost come of the wall and shift. The unrecognizable symbols turned into letters that he could read, but they still made no sense. 'Bex Miiraaka Vus' Then silence fell and he understood what the words meant. Bex Miiraaka Vus, Open Portal to Nirn.

With a confused frown he traced his finger over the now non glowing word wall. What happened? Why did he seemingly learn what those symbols meant. Nicking his finger on the stone he pulled the now bleeding finger away.

Stepping back he took in the word wall in whole and now with the glowing gone he could see that another type of symbols appeared surrounding the word wall and spiralling onto the floor. These symbols though he faintly recognized as ruins from a having heard Hermione talk about the subject she would be taking next year.

She had even convinced him to take Runes with her, despite him initially wanting to take divination for the easy O. But Hermione's argument about thinking about their future had reached him.

It was then he noticed the blood from his finger drip down onto the rune sequence and the whole array lit up a dark red.

There was a sense a presence and then Harry felt like he was being judged by someone, or something. How had the rune sequence activated? Didn't they need magic and a password to be activated?

What was the sequence doing? Harry tried to move to get away from the presence that was getting heavier and heavier, but he found he couldn't move. Perhaps exploring the tugging sensation had been a bad idea.

**Interesting, I suppose you will have to do. I shall gift you the meanings of the words you have learned, in return you, Harrison James Potter, will defeat Alduin in due time.**

The voice which originated all around him, yet came seemingly from nowhere had a rumbling tone to it, making it sound strange, foreign.

Another wave of light started to form and swirl into him, after a moment Harry understood the words on a whole new level, he knew how to use them. It was as if he could say the words and the words themselves would bend reality to his whim.

This knowing was strange, but brought forth a strange feeling, he felt more powerful and he desired to learn more about this language he had found. With this understanding he knew that it would be taking him away, to someplace far away from Hogwarts. How was he supposed to return though?

**When your school is ready to start I will gift you the knowledge needed to come back.**

Well that's good at least. A bit nerving that whatever was speaking to him could read his thoughts though. Was it just him or did the presence seemed to be getting stronger, it was getting harder to think, "Who is this Alduin you want me to defeat?"

**Alduin, the world eater, he will eventually try to destroy the world, though he will take his time as he enjoys causing the mortals fear. Do not fret, you shall have time to get stronger and prepare for the trials you will face.**

Getting stronger did sound good, especially since Voldemort seemed to be after him. Both years of Hogwarts he had to deal with that megalomaniac. Mind made up he focused on the words, "_Bex Miiraaka Vus!_"

In front of him a purple oval opened up red swirling into deeper and deeper. Harry wanted to step away, to turn and run. Yet he still found himself stepping forward into the portal.

Then he was falling, or perhaps flying. Maybe he was walking forward, maybe he wasn't moving at all. He couldn't tell. Just that the previous pressure was replaced by a different sort of pressure, a more physical one that seemed to be squishing him, compressing him into a tube, or maybe trying to squeeze him through the eye of a needle.

The pressure soon became to much and black took over his vision. He felt himself impact the ground with a thud and his conscious faded away.

**A/n: A new Harry Potter Skyrim story, this is way different than anything I've planned before, so I hope you guys enjoy, I have no idea when I'll next update it. I have a plan though. So this starts at the end of second year. Not everything has been canon up to this point, but nothing important has been changed at the moment.**


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

Waking up the first thing he heard was a clip clop sound, that he faintly recognized as horse steps. Opening his eyes he nearly groaned as he realized how stiff his neck was. It seemed that he had been left in a sitting up position. Rolling his neck he noticed the other people in the cart all had their hands bound, and one even had his mouth bound.

He though was unbound, so that was good at least.

"Looks like you're finally awake kid," the blonde man sitting across from him said.

"Where am I? What's going on?"

"Imperial guards found you unconscious near the border, I guess they decided to take you with them, less a wolf or a bear gets you. The Imperials are taking us to our execution, not to sure what they are going to do with you though, I guess try to find whoever your guardian might be, though judging by how ragged your clothes look, I'd wager a guess you either run away, or that you now live by yourself, in which case they would probably send you to the Riften Orphanage."

Harry frowned, he never heard of the Imperial guards before, though now he remembered he had taken a portal away from Hogwarts, though he still didn't understand why he did what he did. "Where am I?"

"You're in Skyrim."

"Skyrim?" Harry parroted having never heard of the place.

The man gave a nod, "You were found near the border, seems like the imperials were originally going to parade us around, but it looks like they got new orders, bet those damn Thalmor are behind it."

Harry was just getting more confused, and was about to question who, or what the Thalmor were when the carriage driver said, "Shut up back there."

The blonde guy he had been chatting with snorted, "We're already heading towards our execution, what more can they do to us."

"Why are you being executed? And why are they taking us by horse and cart?" Horse and cart seemed a bit old fashioned, though if they were magical it would probably make more sense. Still Mr. Weasley had used a car even if it was enchanted.

The man gave him a strange look following his second question but started to answer them nonetheless, "I am a Stormcloak soldier a member of the rebellion against the empire, names Ralof. Next to you is Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King of Skyrim and the leader. And horse and cart is faster than walking."

Harry looked around and noticed it looked like they were arriving in a city. "Looks like we reached the end of the line," Ralof muttered.

"Oh Divines... I don't want to die." The dark haired man next to Ralof whined.

Ralof sneered, "Face your death with some dignity, milk-drinker."

The dark haired man glared back, "If they hadn't been looking for you damn stormcloaks I could've stolen that horse and been half way to Hammerfell."

Silence fell as they entered the small looking village. The cart came to a stop, "When I call your name please step down and line up," a guy holding a clipboard commanded.

"Lokir of Rorikstead."

The dark haired guy was shaking as he stepped down, "You can't catch me!" He shouted as he started running.

"Archers!" The female next to the guy with the clipboard shouted.

With a twang an arrow flew through the air and hit the guy killing him in one shot.

"Ralof of Riverwood." The list guy said with a strange expression on his face. Harry couldn't tell what exactly it was though. He sniffed the air and smelled a mixture of regret, anger, despair, fear, and determination. Though he didn't know which scents belonged to which people.

"Ulfric Stormcloak of Windhelm."

With his head held high the guy left the cart.

The list guy gave him a friendly smile, "Hey kid, sorry you had to ride with them. Let's get you somewhere a bit warmer, yeah?"

Harry just nodded and followed after the list guy, "My name is Hadvar, what's yours?"

"Harry Potter, sir."

Harry paused as he heard something, a roar, though it was faint in the distance. He looked around but didn't see anything. "There's an Inn right over here, we can get you something warm to drink and figure out what to do with you."

The roar was louder this time and even Hadvar seemed to hear it as he paused and looked around himself. "Shor's bones," Hadvar gasped as he looked up at the sky.

Harry followed his gaze and saw a giant black dragon flying straight towards the village. It landed on top of the tower. The dragon roared and the sky darkened and Harry could see rocks falling from the sky.

"Come on, we better head to the keep, it's more fortified." Hadvar said and started running off, Harry quickly followed after him. As they ran through the quickly falling apart village they witnessed the dragon destroying everything and killing people, while it seemed immune to all damage that the guards were doing to it.

As they made their way through the village the two of them helped the people they came across telling them to either get out of the village or make it to the keep. Eventually they came across a clearing in front of what had to be the keep. Ralof the guy from the cart ride was there running towards one of the keeps doors. He paused upon spotting them.

"Ralof you damn traitor!" Hadvar shouted at him.

"We're escaping, and there is nothing you can do about it!" Ralof returned,

"Come on lad, let's get into the keep." Hadvar said as Ralof ran towards the door.

"Kolos los Krenttiid? Zu'u haalvut ek, bo nol het! Briinah kolos los hi?!" He could hear being said by the dragon, and when could dragons speak? Yet the language sounded similar to those words he had used to create that portal.

They made it into the keep. "Could that really have been a dragon, like from the legends of old?" Hadvar muttered. With another rumbling of the building he shook his head, "You should grab some supplies, definitely a sword, you might need it."

Harry grabbed a sword with both his hands and instantly felt its weight, "Give it a few swings, it's not really made for a kid, so it's probably better if you use both your hands and pretend its a greatsword."

Harry looked over to Hadvar who had a similar looking sword in one hand. He swung the sword and nearly collapsed from the momentum. "I guess you never used a sword before, have you any combat training?"

"No sir," Not anything that could really be counted anyways.

"If we encounter any enemies stay out of the way then."

Harry nodded and followed after Hadvar as they started to make their way through the keep. "Stormcloaks... maybe we can reason with them." Hadvar whispered as they heard a couple voices coming through a gate.

He lowered the gate "Hold on now, we only want to..."

They draw their weapons but paused as they noticed Harry. "What do you want Imperial."

"Were trying to escape from the dragon, same as you."

"So what were supposed to just let you pass?"

"How about we work together to escape, once were free we go our separate ways."

"Why shouldn't we just kill you now?"

"Do you really want to kill me in front of the kid?" Hadvar retorted.

The Stormcloaks looked hesitant and shook their heads. "Fine, but only cause a lad like him shouldn't have to see death."

With that an uneasy truce was formed and the group continued on a stormcloak leading the front, Hadvar and the other stormcloak walking next to each other and Harry following behind. The building shook violently and the front stormcloak fell and rocks fell down from the roof, killing him and blocking the path forward.

Harry blanched at the pool of blood on the ground. "Come on this way," Hadvar murmured standing in front of Harry shielding his view. They went into the only door available to them and saw an imperial and a stormcloak glaring at each other weapons drawn.

They each took a quick glance and seemed surprised, "Hadvar, what's going on?" The female imperial soldier asked.

"Temporary truce so we can make it out alive."

"And you agreed to it?"

"I suggested it," Hadvar retorted.

The imperial nodded.

"Let's take a look around, see what we can find." The female stormcloak they had been working with suggested.

The group looked around, Harry started in the barrels and opened them, most of them were empty, but in one he found a few potions. Surprised he wonder if perhaps these people did know about magic, or was it just potions? "I found some potions."

"Good. Lets see, we got a health potion, a stamina potion, and a magicka potion." Hadvar said looking at the potions in Harry's hand.

"What does each of the potions do?" Harry asked, he could guess, but it was better to make sure that each did as he thought.

"The health potion will heal up minor wounds, though stronger health potions can save someone from death's door. The stamina potion can give you a bit of energy, so you can travel longer or fight longer. And the Magicka potion is generally only used by mages, it can replenish there Magicka stores so they can continue casting spells." The female stormcloak answered him.

"Anyone here use magic?" Hadvar asked.

Harry did, but he didn't know this places magic, perhaps he should learn. The new stormcloak nodded, "I've dabbled in the restoration school."

The black haired boy handed over the blue potion. "Stamina potions to our female members, and health for me and you."

Harry handed the green potion to the two woman, who each had giant weapons on their backs. "Can you tell me about magic?" Harry asked the guy.

"There are five schools of magic, destruction, which allows the user to harness the elements and harm opponents, the most commonly used elements are fire, shock, and ice. Then there is alteration, which allows you to change things around you, such as creating light, and masters can change metals. Illusion is the school which messes with the mind, you can either give people courage or make your enemies fear you. Restoration is the healing magics, allowing the user to heal themselves or others, and to protect themselves. Conjuration allows you to summon help, or to create a blade. It also has a branch to allow you to resurrect the dead under your command, but that's generally frowned upon. Then while not directly magical, most consider alchemy and enchanting to be things only mages do. Alchemy is the creation of potions, and enchanting allows you to put special abilities onto weapons and armours," The male stormcloak explained as they continued through the keep.

They came upon the scene of some stormcloaks fighting against some imperials. "Stop!" Hadvar called out causing the combatants to look at him.

"What's going on?" One of the new stormcloaks asked looking at the group.

"Since there is a dragon attacking we have a temporary truce so we can escape alive." The female stormcloak answered.

"Such nonsense. Why not just kill the stormcloaks or leave them for the dragon to devour?" An older imperial asked with a sneer, his outfit was soaked in blood. Harry shuddered and looked around, he noticed cages and tools. It was then he realized this was a torture room.

"Because we are decent human beings and don't want to have a kid see death and battle any more than necessary." The female imperial retorted.

"Whatever, do as you wish, I will be reporting this though." The torturer replied.

"I'll join you." The other imperial said.

The stormcloaks nodded.

"Look, a spellbook." The magic using stormcloak said pointing to it. "If your interested in learning magic that would be the way to start."

"Don't bother, I lost the key to that place ages ago, guy screamed for weeks."

"I bet he couldn't be bothered to just use some lockpicks. Or lost the key on purpose." The female stormcloak muttered under her breath.

"Lockpicking is a decent skill to learn, especially if you become an adventurer, many chests and doors have long since lost keys and will need to be picked open. Here watch me." The new male stormcloak said grabbing lockpicks off of the table. Harry watched as the guy maneuvered the lockpicks and picked the lock. "Go ahead, take what you want kid."

Harry grabbed the spell tome and the few coins lying on the ground, then he looked around and saw a bag and put the items in it and put the bag on his back so he could carry stuff. Then they continued on. Soon the group encountered a hole in the wall and an empty cavern. They made their way through and started to cross an old wooden bridge, Harry and Hadvar went first, followed by the Female Stormcloak and the Magic Stormcloak. Then as the female imperial and male imperial were crossing they heard a roar and rocks tumbled down crushing them, destroying the bridge and blocking the path back.

"Looks like there is no way back, I'm sure the others will find another way out."

The now smaller group continued on. After walking further through the caverns they came across a nest of giant spiders. Harry shuddered as they reminded him of acromantulas. The three soldiers easily dispatched of them though and Harry was able to just stay back. Then they exited out and came into a cavern with a bear in it.

"I'd rather we not tangle with her, what about you?" The male stormcloak muttered.

"We can try to sneak across, let's just take it nice and easy," Hadvar agreed.

They crouched down and started to creep slowly across, sticking to the walls. Harry followed there lead and soon the group made it out of the bear cavern and they saw a small crack with light pouring out of it.

The group exited just in time to see the giant dragon flying away. "Looks like we made it. Here's where we split," Hadvar stated turning to the stormcloaks.

They nodded and without a further word they went into the forest, quickly becoming lost to sight. "Alright, were going to Riverwood, my hometown, there we can rest and start figuring out what to do."

With that they started walking.

* * *

**Translations: **Kolos los Krenttiid? Zu'u haalvut ek, bo nol het! Briinah kolos los hi?! - Where is Krenttiid? I feel her, coming from here! Sister where are you?

**A/n: I finally posted this next chapter, I hope you enjoyed! I'm not sure when I will next update this, could be from a few months to a few years, depends on when I get into a Skyrim mood. **


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

As they walked Hadvar chatted about various things, he pointed out a place he called Bleak Fall Barrow. Hadvar told tales of how as a kid he had nightmares of the place and that Draugr would come down and attack the village. When Harry asked what Draugr were Hadvar gave him a side glance before he explained that it was an undead creature who liked to roam the crypts.

As they continued on they came across three standing stones that Hadvar called the guardian stones, these stones apparently helped people learn certain skill sets faster, Harry picked the wizard stone since that was what he was.

Soon enough they arrived in Riverwood where Hadvar led him to his home where Hadvar's parents were kind enough to let him stay for a few days to get over the ordeal of the dragon attack before he made his journey to the Riften Orphanage, or be a beggar if he so chose. They did mention they would have someone deliver a message to whiterun's Jarl. Whoever that was.

That night he fell asleep on the bed, which wasn't the most comfortable, though he supposed it was more comfortable than the bed he used to have in his cupboard. Though that wasn't hard, even with this bed being made of straw. The next day he woke up and was allowed to take part in the breakfast. Then they suggested he go explore the town. So he went out and started exploring. A couple hours later he had a pretty good layout of the place, though he was still confused by just how medieval the village seemed.

Eventually he ran into a guy with blonde hair who was holding a letter, the guy blinked and Harry apologized as he had been distracted by his thoughts. "It's no problem kid, say could you do me a favor?"

"Sure," Harry agreed easily enough.

"I have a letter from Faendal, that needs to be delivered to Camilia."

"Camilia?" He questioned the guy idly wondering what kind of instrument was on the man's back.

"The sister of the general good store owner."

Harry nodded, "Alright, I'll deliver the letter for you."

So he was handed the letter and then he went off to the general goods store. As he walked in he heard an argument between two people. Apparently something had been stolen from them. He waited for the argument to stop before he went to Camilia, "Excuse me miss, but I was asked to give this letter to you."

"Oh? Who by?"

"A guy with blonde hair said it was from someone called Faendal."

"Really?" She hummed as she took and read the letter. "Oh dear…"

Something in the letter seemed to upset her. "You said a guy with blonde hair asked you to give this to me?"

Harry nodded.

"Did he give you his name?"

"No ma'am."

She frowned before asking, "Did he have a lute on his back?"

Was that what the stringed instrument he had seen? Assuming so he answered positively. Camilia frowned, "What is Sven playing at, to fake a letter from Faendal? Does he really think he can win my affections with deception?"

Harry stood there awkwardly not wanting to leave without being dismissed, but also not sure what to think about what she had said.

"Would you please find Faendal for me and bring him here?" She asked, giving him a small smile.

"What does he look like, and where can I find him?"

"He should be around the sawmill, he is a bosmer archer so he shouldn't be too hard to spot."

Silently Harry wondered what a bosmer was, but decided he would find out if he just searched around. He didn't want to ask too many questions and annoy people. Exiting out the building he went to the sawmill area and started looking around for anyone with bow and arrows.

After ten or so minutes of wandering around he finally spotted someone with a bow on his back. The man though had pointed ears… was that what Camilia meant by Bosmer?

"Pardon me sir, are you Faendal?"

The man smiled, "Yes I am."

"Camilia requested that I bring you."

The man's smile became wider if possible, "Well let's go then."

So they went back to the general good store, though Harry wondered if he really had to be there. He half listened as Camilia told him about the letter that Sven had tried to forge.

He then overheard her telling Sven about the break in, that some thieves had stolen the ornament, and that her brother wouldn't let her go after them. Sven then offered to go get the claw for her.

Immediately her expression turned worried, "By yourself?"

"Sure, I'll be fine, I'll keep my distance and just take the claw back."

"I don't know… I don't want you getting hurt…" She replied worriedly.

Faendal gave a smile, "I promise I'll be safe."

"Oh alright, but take someone with you to watch your back."

Faendal gave a nod and exited out. Camilia turned to him, "Thank you for your help so far, here are a few coins for your help." She said handing him a small pouch that jingled, she hesitated a moment before asking, "Can you please make sure he takes someone with him?"

Happy to be able to help he agreed. He turned and left and looked down the road to see Faendal heading off the road. The man went right past the gate, not stopping, nor was anyone else with him. Harry sighed and jogged to catch up to the man who looked surprised to see him. "Camilia asked that I make sure you have someone with you."

"You can come with me then, it shouldn't be too difficult."

"But… isn't it dangerous?" Harry questioned.

Faendal shrugged, "Not particularly, I will sneak into their camp at night when they've drunken themselves to sleep and take the golden claw back. It'll be fine."

"If you say so…" Harry dubiously agreed.

Harry reluctantly followed Faendal up the path, he was a Gryffindor, wasn't he? So he shouldn't be such a coward.

He followed behind Faendal and the man began to point out a few plants. Everything here was strange, about the only thing that looked familiar were the trees. Faendal suddenly grimaced, "Looks like some bandits took over the watchtower, we'll have to bypass them to get to Bleak Falls Barrow."

"How will we do that?" Harry asked following Faendal's example of crouching behind a rock.

"I'll snipe the watchers, that'll give us a minute or two to get past the tower before the realize what's going on."

"Wait.. you mean kill them?" Harry questioned alarmed.

"They're bandits, either we kill them, or they'll kill us," Faendal answered as if killing someone was acceptable. Was it though? This was an unknown place, somewhere he knew that was far away from Hogwarts. If Riverwood was any indication, then this place he was at was some sort of medieval place, which meant killing wouldn't be seen as wrong, at least not killing people who were considered bandits or outlaws.

Harry watched, his feelings conflicted, as Faendal took out the two bandits. The stronger part of him was horrified at the taking of a life, that it was wrong and illegal. Yet, a smaller part of him thought that if the bandits were not strong enough to survive then they should be hunted like the prey they were.

He followed Faendal as they quickly made their way past the tower, shoving away his feelings for the moment. Once they got the claw back then he could think over everything he had learned.

They continued up the trail, keeping close to the rocks and Faendal quietly pointed out the bandit sentries. There were two or three on watch that they could spot patrolling around, and Faendal said he was sure there was at least another two that were hidden.

The duo waited another hour as the sun fell before creeping closer to try and figure out which bandit had the golden claw. They listened to the bandits who were gathered around a fire, drinking. "How long do you think Arvel and the others will take with that claw?"

"Too long," Another grumbled. "If he doesn't hurry it up I'm going to cut that dark elf's ears off."

"Seems like the claw is inside of the barrow," Faendal whispered.

The two used the cover of the darkness to sneak past the bandits towards the door of the barrow, which they carefully opened a crack to slip through. Once inside they heard two voices talking.

"The dark elf wants to go on ahead, let him. Better than us risking our necks." A female voice spoke.

"What if Arvel doesn't come back? I want my share from that claw!" A male voice protested.

"Just shut it and keep an eye out for trouble."

"Harrumph, I don't trust that dunmer, I say we go in deeper."

"Do you think he has any other way to go besides coming back out this way?"

"I've heard that these places contain secret exits."

"If you want to get yourself killed going on in then go ahead."

With that the male bandit went through the door. Harry watched as Faendal notched an arrow and let it lose, piercing the female bandit through her neck. She collapsed to the ground gurgling a moment as she tried to breathe.

Faendal stepped forward and grasped a coin pouch that was on her hip. He dumped the small coins into his pouch, except for a couple which he handed to Harry. He put the coins in his pouch even as he watched Faendal pick the lock to the chest. "Here, put this potion in your bag," Faendal said handing him the red potion.

Harry nodded and put the health potion with his other in his bag. The two walked further into the barrow only encountering a few giant rats that Faendal called skeevers. Eventually they saw that the bandit who left the female was with another bandit and they were standing over a lever. "You sure that thing is safe to pull?"

"Yeah, it's fine, otherwise Arvel would have been here," The other bandit responded and pulled the lever. The two were dead soon as a bunch of arrows flew out of the walls and hit the two.

Faendal snorted, "Doesn't seem safe to me, there must be some way to get past though."

Harry eyed the walls and the carvings he saw, carvings with designs that seemed close to the ones on the pillars. Curious he went to the pillars and pushed one, finding that it could turn. Faendal seemed to realize as well as they quickly spun the other one to match the symbols that had been on the wall.

Faendal gestured for him to take a few steps back as he went to the lever. He pulled it quickly stepping back in case the arrows came out again. No arrows did as the gate opened up.

The two made their way down and soon came across webbing that gave Harry a feeling of dread, he was really starting to hate spiders. He couldn't even do anything to fight it off, he had no wand and he knew nothing about this place's magic. When they entered the room a giant spider, as big as Aragog had come down from the roof. "Stay back, I'll take care of this frostbite spider."

"No problem," Harry replied with wide eyes as the spider went to attack Faendal. The man shot an arrow and dashed a few steps quickly notching another arrow and shooting before dashing away again. He kept this up keeping just out of reach of the spider.

Eventually it fell down dead.

"You. Over here! You did it. You killed it. Now cut me down before anything else shows up," the man shouted, his skin was dark and Harry could make out pointed ears. The bandits had referred to the man as a dunmer, a dark elf, did that mean that there were species of elves, and if so was a bosmer the name of another type of elf?

"Where's the golden claw?" Faendal questioned.

"Yes, the claw. I know how it works. The claw, the markings, the door in the Hall of Stories. I know how they all fit together! Help me down, and I'll show you. You won't believe the power the Nords have hidden there."

Faendal shook his head, "I don't care about the treasure, I just want the golden claw."

Arvel snorted, "Fine sure yeah, I'll give you the claw, just let me down."

Harry didn't believe the guy, carefully taking a sniff of the air he could smell the stench of nervousness coming off the elf heavily. Faendal seemed of the same mind as he carefully took out a dagger and started to cut down the man, keeping the blade close enough to strike if the man sought to attack them after being freed.

The man collapsed onto the floor and a split second later he took off running down the hall, taunting them as he shouted back "You fool, why should I share the treasure with anyone?"

Faendal and Harry rushed after the thief, Harry easily managed to keep up with Faendal's longer strides. They paused though as they heard a yelp and they watched as zombie looking creatures rushed after Arvel who fled running but was stopped dead as a spiked gat swung out and impaled him, his body sticking to the gate as it swung back. Blood dripped out of the man's body.

Harry flinched back at the gruesome sight, but he had larger problems to worry about as the zombie creatures turned to them. "Damn. Draugr."

Faendal quickly took to shooting them, the draugr falling dead one after another with his shots. After all of the undead were dead they made their way closer to Arvel, Faendal telling him to watch where he stepped. Once the two spotted the pressure plate they avoided it. Faendal grimaced as he searched through Arvel's bag finding the claw and a journal.

"We got the claw, we should head back now," Faendal stated.

Harry nodded. Both turned to head back the way they came when they heard voices. "Come on, we need to find that dark elf. He took too damn long and I won't have him trying to skip out on our payment."

Faendal and Harry glanced at each other, both thinking that it was the 5 or so bandits they had snuck past outside. The two started heading deeper into the Barrows. They came across more draugr, but the zombies were easy to take care of, fire from the oil or a couple arrows was enough to take them down. They soon encountered a swinging axe trap.

"We got to be careful and time our steps right," Faendal whispered.

Hearing shouting voices behind him and rushing footsteps Harry gulped, "I don't think we have much time."

"I'll go first, wait until I'm through, there might be a way to deactivate them on the other side." Faendal said eyeing the axes as they swung. He carefully rushed forward stopping in between the two swinging axes before continuing on. Once on the other side he turned to the wall and stopped the axes from swinging. Harry dashed through with quiet footsteps and Faendal reactivated the trap. The two quietly made their way through the large room, avoiding any of the coffin looking stones.

The two stuck to the shadows as shooting came from the axes and the draugrs moved to the bandits who were following after them. It cleared the path for the two of them to continue on, going through a few more halls and fighting off a couple more draugr. Eventually though they came across a large door that seemed locked. "This must be what that Dunmer was talking about, here, skim through his journal, I'll keep an eye for any trouble."

Harry nodded and grabbed the journal, trying to read it, but finding the handwriting it was written in hard to read. It took him longer than it probably should have to figure out that the markings on the door had to match the markings on the claw.

He spun the markings and then pushed the claw into the door and spun it, once he pulled it out the door made a grinding noise as it slid down. When it opened Harry paused stumbling a bit as he felt a tugging sensation, similar to the one he had gotten from the Chamber of Secrets.

* * *

**A/n: I finally posted another chapter of this. I got into a bit of a mood to write this, and I hope you enjoy. I do believe Faendal has some serious apologizing to do to the adventure he accidentally got Harry into. One thing I want to make mention of is that Salazar's Journal was written in Parseltounge. Hope you enjoyed this update, and I will try to update this story a lot sooner than half a year. See y'all next update!**


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